ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the beliefs and behaviours of primitive tribes whose social structures were organized around elaborate taboos that arose in response to hidden aspects of human nature that Freud uncovered during the development of psychoanalysis. In Totem and Taboo, Freud argued that prehistoric man is still one's contemporary, and that the psychology of primitive people, modern conscience, obsessional neurosis and religion are uncannily concordant in their origins and psychodynamics. Freud made the astounding claim that taboos, conscience, neurosis and religion have common roots in human nature, and the particular aspects of human nature upon which each of these phenomena are built have remained constant across centuries and between different civilizations. Freud stated that his purpose in writing Totem and Taboo was not to draw a straight causal line from totem to religion, but that this direct route presented itself to him in the course of his investigations into the origins and function of taboos and the evolution of religion.
